My Inspiration
by Winekita
Summary: One-Shot. Esperanza 'Espie' Valdez, Leo's first-born daughter, is entering a contest for a full scholarship to NYU College of Arts and Sciences, and she chooses Leo to be the subject of her painting.


_**Oh, the feels. Oh, the feels. I can't even begin to describe how much I love this one shot.**_

_**Get ready for some Valdez family feels. They're happy, don't worry! I'm in a...happy mood.**_

_**WARNING: if you have not read up to Chapter 43 in my story The Keys, you will not understand Leo's condition. You have been warned.**_

_**I own nothing you recognize as canon.**_

* * *

_***~My Inspiration~***_

**A Leo Valdez Fanfic**

_Featuring Esperanza Grace Valdez_

Leo Valdez was fixing a random car, leaning sideways out of his wheelchair, when Espie tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and smiled at his eighteen-year-old daughter. "Hey, _mija_," he greeted. "What'cha need?"

Esperanza was holding a big canvas in the crook of her arm. "Hi, _Papi_," she said. "Um…I got a big favor to ask you."

Leo straightened up and wiped his dirty hands on his legs. "Shoot."

Espie coughed. "So, you know how NYU is hosting an contest and how the best ones get full scholarships to the art program?"

"Yes."

"Well…" Espie blushed, which was odd for her. She was just as outgoing as Leo. "I've been thinking about it for weeks now…I want you to be my subject."

Leo blinked. "For your scholarship entry? Are you sure? I'm not that pretty of a target. You might want to go to your mother or something."

Espie shook her head. "No. I want it to be you."

Leo shrugged. "Alright. You're the artist. So, let me clean up and—"

"No," Espie said. "You're perfect as you are! Um…but, let's move to something less complicated. Away from the engine, maybe?"

Leo shut the hood and took apart the left headlight. "This okay? I need to fix it."

Espie smiled. "Perfect!"

She propped her canvas up against a nearby project and grabbed her paints from the other room. "Okay, _Papi_," she said. "I'll do your torso after the wheelchair and legs, so feel free to move a bit. I'll tell you when to move less."

Five hours later, Espie was finished. Leo's ADHD had nearly killed him near the end when she told him to hold still. He survived, but now he was hungry and curious.

"So, can I see it?" Leo asked.

"Absolutely not," she answered flatly. "Not until the showcase."

"Whyyyy," Leo whined. "I deserve to see it!"

"Nope!" Espie bolted out of the machine shop. Leo tried to follow, but his wheelchair kept getting caught behind random objects.

Leo screamed, "Wait! Not fair! I can't wheel that fast! And the _hover_ part of my hover chair is glitchy at the moment! Esperanza!"

* * *

A few days later, the Valdez family was at the NYU scholarship art contest showcase. Espie was already inside, setting up her Leo painting.

Because Leo had been too busy with work, he hadn't fixed his hover chair, so he and Calypso had to take the long way up the stairs—they had to go up the handicap ramp.

"I can wheel myself, Calypso," Leo protested as they entered the gym, where all the contestants had set up.

Calypso ruffled his hair. "No. You've been wheeling yourself around all day. You need a break."

Aria, their eleven-year-old daughter, smiled at her father. "You're fine, _Papi_. No one is going to think less of you just because you're in a wheelchair."

Leo still pouted. He felt useless enough with his limp legs, but being pushed everywhere just made it worse. The demigods and legacies at the camps and small cities had long since accepted his condition and no one stared at him like he was different. If someone did stare he'd bring it up himself and break the tension, just so they'd stop. With mortals in New York, it was way different. They didn't mean to, but they stared at whatever didn't belong in their normal picture. Leo couldn't bring it up to all of them, so he had to stay silent.

He sighed and began tinkering with random things he pulled from his tool belt. At least his hands still worked.

Zac poked him in the shoulder. Leo looked up. The seven-year-old asked, "Can I have some stuff to play with, too?"

Leo stuck out his tongue. "Deal with the boredom."

"Leo," Calypso groaned. "Let Zac have something to do."

"Is this day '_Don't Let Leo Have What He Wants_' Day?" Leo complained as he handed Zac a few pipe cleaners, rubber bands, and washers.

He felt a kiss on top of his head. "This is Espie's day. Behave a little more, please."

"_Papi_!"

The whole family turned to see the eldest Valdez child shifting through the crowd towards them. Her twin, Tulio, was right behind her.

When Espie reached the group, she hugged her father first. "I'm so glad you guys made it! The judges haven't gotten to my area yet. They've chosen a few already."

Tulio nodded. "Some others even had Espie's idea, but none of those pulled it off a great as her."

Espie blushed. "There's some really good ones out there, though."

Calypso smiled and patted her eldest daughter on the shoulder. "You'll be fine, sweetie. Your art is top notch to us."

"Yeah, I can't even draw a stick." Zac blew a stray caramel curl out of his face. "Much less paint one."

"So where is this picture that took five hours of torture?" Leo asked. "I really wanna see it."

"Follow me," Espie said, leading them.

The crowd moved and shifted accordingly for Leo, and a few looked his way. He tried to ignore them. He was just a 40-year-old Latino in a wheelchair. Nothing to see there. _Stop staring as if I have cancer_, he scolded them in his head.

In a corner of the gym were a few large paintings, a sculpture, and a charcoal sketch. Espie stopped at the last one. "This is mine," she announced. "What do you think?"

Leo wheeled himself closer, not realizing Calypso had let go of his chair. A lump formed in his throat.

There he was, fixing the headlight of the car, in his wheelchair. Tools and wires were thrown around on the ground, and the wiring in the headlight was perfect. But it wasn't the details of the background that got Leo. No, it was the details of himself. The greasy curls, the smile lines near his eyes, the long fingers covered in grime—everything was perfect. Espie had done something to his face, though. While posing, Leo had to hold still, so his face hadn't really looked very good, he thought. But Espie had changed his expression from annoyance to something else. He was smiling like normal, but…what was that emotion she had painted into his eyes? After observing it for a minute, he realized what it was…

Melancholy.

Leo knew that look. He'd worn it many times as a teen when his friends weren't looking. He'd seen it sometimes when he looked in the mirror. That was the look that he'd worn the first few days of his paralysis.

"_Papi_?"

Leo snapped back into reality. He smiled at Espie. "How'd you get that look? I don't wear that all the time, do I?"

"No," she said. "But I remember seeing it when you lost the feeling in your legs. I wanted to capture you as you were. That you aren't all the way okay with your condition. I know you're not, but at least you joke about it now. That's why I had you smile, but painted your eyes differently."

Leo grinned. "You got it perfectly, sweetie. I don't mind at all."

Espie hugged him. "Thanks. I hope the judges like it."

"I hope we like it, too."

Espie whirled around. A tall man with combed back hair was holding a clipboard. He wore relaxed, casual clothes. Next to him was a pretty woman with her brown hair pulled into a ponytail. She had a clipboard, too and was also dressed casually with a loose, flowing skirt and relaxed button-up blouse. Both of them looked about Leo's age. It had been the woman who spoke.

The man smiled. "So, who do we have and what are you presenting?"

Espie stepped forward. "Sorry, hello. My name's Esperanza Valdez. I'm the, uh, artist."

The man and woman shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Esperanza," the woman said. "I'm Emily, and this is Jack. We're the NYU Art and Science heads." She looked at the rest of the Valdez clan. "I assume you're the family?"

They all introduced themselves. Leo felt like these people were very nice. He hoped Espie got the scholarship so she could be set like Tulio and his Aerospace Engineering degree (patenting Leo's hover chair pretty much guaranteed him a full scholarship).

"So," Jack said. "Where's your work of art?"

Espie pointed to the painting. "Right here."

The two judges examined it, writing down some notes.

"Interesting setting," Jack noted.

"Clean brush strokes," Emily added. "Nothing looks rushed or half-done."

"Amazing detail." Jack squinted. "Wait. Emily, come look at this."

_Oh no,_ Leo thought. _Oh, please don't let it be a mistake. It might kill Espie!_

Espie was holding her breath as both judges peered closer. From Leo's vantage point, it seemed like they were examining Painting Leo's face.

"Oh my," Emily gasped. "I've never..."

Jack looked at Leo, then looked at the painting, then back at Leo. The judge nodded and whispered something to Emily and she wrote down something very quickly.

Jack turned back to Espie. "Miss Valdez," he began. "Can you explain to us why you chose to paint this?"

Espie was shivering. Tulio took her hand and smiled comfortingly.

Jack held up his hand. "It's okay. You're not in trouble! We'd just like to understand why you chose this subject for the theme."

Espie let out a breath and said shakily, "Uh...Well..."

"What was the theme?" Zac asked.

"The theme was _What Inspires You_," Emily answered, turning away from the painting.

Leo tilted his head. "Really?"

"You were the subject and she didn't tell you what the theme was?" Jack asked.

The son of Hephaestus shrugged. "The little minx ran off with the painting and said I'd have to wait to see it. This is the first I've seen of it."

"Interesting," Jack noted. "That's pretty funny."

Calypso smiled. "Leo is your inspiration?" she asked Espie.

Espie nodded. "Yes. I spent a long time thinking about this theme, sketching ideas and throwing them away. Then, the other day, I saw _Papi_ working on something and...I realized he was the reason I love to draw. I remember him encouraging me when I was younger. He supported my coloring and drawings and gave me courage to keep doing it. And then...I saw his wheelchair and..." She sniffed. "I remembered how he had grown up with a hard life before meeting my mom, and how he kept a smile on his face through all the pain. Even after he had the accident, he still manages to smile. That's when I realized: _Papi_'s always been my inspiration. He inspired me to keep smiling, keep up with my dreams...He's always there for me, no matter how hard life gets. That's why he's my subject: he inspires me every day."

Leo smiled. He never realized he was that big of an influence to her art.

Emily and Jack exchanged a glance, then looked at Espie again. Emily gestured to the painting. "I would like to ask you about a choice you made about this painting."

"Um...okay?"

Emily pointed to Painting Leo's face. "I see here that your father is smiling, but the eyes don't match up emotionally. Why is that?"

"Well," Espie began. "Like I said, _Papi_ went through a lot of hardships in his life, including three years ago when he lost the feeling in his legs. Yet, through all of that pain, he's still smiling. I sometimes see that look in his eyes and he tries to hide it with a smile. I wanted to capture that part of him, because _that's_ the inspiring part."

Emily and Jack looked at each other again. Leo's heart skipped a beat as Emily wrote something again.

Jack finally cleared his throat. "Many people here have said that their parents are their inspiration. Most of the time it was redundant and not thought out. They just painted their parents and hoped for the best. But you...Miss Valdez, you take the cake."

He pointed to Painting Leo's eyes. "Right there, you painted _emotion_ into your father's eyes that had been hidden behind his smile. Not many artists can do that. I'm a sculptor and I find it hard to capture my subject's emotion."

Emily nodded. "Out of all of the paintings here, you captured your subject the best. And your style is beautifully portrayed. Your skills are excellent."

"Which is why we are going to present to you," Jack said, pulling out a sealed envelope, "A full four-year scholarship for our Arts and Sciences program."

Espie squealed in delight and hugged Tulio. Aria and Zac cheered. Calypso congratulated her.

Emily gave the letter to Leo. "She captured you really well. Every detail is perfect, sir."

"Thanks," Leo said with a grin.

"Can I ask what happened?"

Leo shrugged. "I'm what you would call a combat veteran. I got crushed inside a collapsing tunnel after I pushed someone out of the way."

Emily nodded and shook Leo's hand. "Well, thank you for your sacrifice, Mr. Valdez."

He grinned cheekily. 'You've no idea how much I've sacrificed over the years," he said, chuckling at the end.

Calypso giggled.

Jack cleared his throat. "Esperanza, do you mind if we take your art with us and hang it in our Hall of Fame?"

"Oh, please," Emily begged. "I'd love to show my students how well someone can capture emotional depth."

Espie looked at the painting, then at Leo. She shook her head. "No. It's an honor, but I'd rather keep it."

"Why?" Leo asked.

"We'll be willing to pay," Jack enticed.

Espie politely refused again. "Thanks for the offer, but...I know my dad won't be around forever and...I'd rather keep this so I can be inspired later in life. I'll outlive him, I know it, so I want to keep a piece of what he looks like now with me later."

The judges nodded. "Okay," Emily said. "Thank you, anyway, and congratulations. We're eager to see more of your work when you come to NYU in the fall."

They moved on to the next piece, but not before Jack called, "See you in September!"

Espie bent down and hugged Leo. "Thanks, _Papi_," she muttered.

"For what?"

She smiled at him, tears ready to fall. "For being my inspiration."

* * *

**_A/N: Gods, I love it when the muses smack me in the head and make me write this stuff._**

**_Makes me feel all warm and cozy inside._**

**_Also, I kinda have another one of these rattling around in my brain. It's still Espie-Leo, though Aria would be there, too. It's a song fic :) Maybe one day I'll post it. The song's in my head right now._**


End file.
